MsRI-EW: Conference to Identify Research Infrastructure Concepts for a National Full-Scale 200 mph Wind and Wind-Water Testing Facility; Virtual; August 2020

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To foster national resilience, the United States needs advanced experimental capabilities that can support research in understanding and reducing human, infrastructure, and property losses from extreme wind and wind-water events, particularly hurricanes. Recent windstorms have demonstrated rapid intensification where wind gusts have exceeded 200 miles per hour (mph), and there are indications that the number of very high intensity windstorms will increase in the coming years. To mitigate the impact of extreme wind and wind-water events on the built environment, a university-based research and testing facility is needed that can simulate wind fields reaching 200 mph. This award will support an engineering workshop to identify research infrastructure concepts for a national, full-scale, 200 mph wind and wind-water testing facility capable of supporting research and testing beyond the wind speeds and scales that are achievable with current testing facilities in the United States. Additionally, because storm surge (wind-driven water) is the principal life safety threat in hurricanes, the workshop will identify ways to integrate storm surge and wave actions into the facility design. The long-term goal of the workshop is to advance wind engineering research with new testing capabilities that can enhance the hurricane resilience of the built environment. This workshop supports the National Science Foundation's role in the National Windstorm Impact Reduction Program. The workshop report will be disseminated to the natural hazards and engineering research communities via the Natural Hazards Engineering Research Infrastructure (NHERI) Data Depot (https://www.DesignSafe-ci.org). The two-day workshop will be held virtually in August 2020 due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The workshop will identify conceptual gaps in existing mid-scale research infrastructure (MsRI) and assess the feasibility and design options for a national, full-scale, 200 mph wind and wind-water testing facility. The workshop, hosted by Florida International University, will include 50 participants from research and engineering applications communities from universities, businesses, professional associations, and government. The workshop will include design and construction conceptualization of a unique MsRI to (a) advance knowledge on the characterization of the transient nature of wind-surge-wave combined hazards, and (b) enable robust simulations of the behavior of civil infrastructure under the multi-stressor environment of hurricane landfalls. The workshop will include a project management expert and a conference facilitator to work with plenary leaders and breakout session chairs. The outcome of the workshop will be a report that will identify the research needs and a conceptual design for the facility.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.